Aphotic Watchers
The Aphotic Watchers are the ancient organization who, for centurie, have watched over the Kingdoms people trying to hide from it the Kingdoms dark past and the beings that hunt them. The Aphotic Watchers have two primary goals: 1) To hunt down all Malign, demons that have the ability to possess people. 2) To recover all Aphotic artifacts that may reveal too much of the history of the Kingdom and open it up to danger. The Malign The Malign are from beyond the wall, existing in the shadows (they keep away from the light) they have the ability to possess a person by looking into their eyes (the windows to the soul) either from their shadowy corporeal form or from someone they already possess. When they have taken over a host they are in full control, able to access the thoughts and knowledge of the person they have control of, though they may walk, talk and often act like the person they have possessed they find it hard to hide traits so typical to the Malign; hate, wrath, greed, etc. The physical form no longer requires sustenance to live (though they can still grow physically weak) and will not die from lack of food or water, though Malign can still enjoy all the pleasures of humans. A possessed person will show increadible physical feats from untold strength to the ability to heal from wounds considerably quickly and they are rare to fall ill to disease, so much so that the aging process also appears to slow down. A malign who has occupied a person for a long period of time (usually decades) can stop the aging process altogether and always be in a perfect bill of health. These traits are what the Malign must disguise most carefully should they attract the attention of a Watcher. Malign typically crave power and so they constantly seek to either icnrease their own powerbase or move from host to host, working their way up to those who already wield more power than their current embodiment. When a Malign leaves its host they will fall foul of the sudden lack of physical capabilities and turn to a delirious fever that few survive from, but those that do recover physically are mentally broken having been linked with the demon and its horrors they become jibbering fools. With the knowledge of the Malign being kept a secret by the Watchers, this fever is commonly known as Mindrot Fever as people are familiar with its incurable effects, those who get over the fever are said to simply have Mindrot. Fighting a Malign Given their physical capabilities any Watcher coming face to face with a Malign will have a tough fight on their hands, as well as their increased strength and dexterity they are notoriously hard to kill... though killing the host is generally the last action a Watcher will wish to take. Once a host dies the Malign will simply return to its corporeal form, moving through the shadows looking for its next victim. For the Watchers they simply seek to recover the hosts and then take them away to their base of operations on a distant island away from the Kingdom. Here the Malign, within their hosts, are blinded (to stop the Malign escaping), deafened, their tongues cut out and then chained to a wall (the Wailing Wall) where due to their own abilities they will not die unless killed, trapped forever as a prisoner in the host, but so too is the host trapped for an eternity. The Aphotic Watchers Skilled in the arts of stealth and combat the Aphotic Watchers mostly do just that; they watch. Constantly looking and listening for signs of a Malign possession, or rumors of an uncovered artifact and the Watchers will look to interject. Their training is rigorous and only the best are ever fully brought into their number, trained to rely fully on their senses and abilities they are taught how to fight with various disabilities eg. fighting with a strapped arm, or bound leg, but most importantly they are taught to fight in complete darkness. Fighting without any sight is the most important part of their training for many as part of their later initiation make the choice to blind themselves as a permanent defense from being possessed by the Malign. Markings All Watchers are tatooed around their eyes in ritualistic markings, but they are more than tribal decoration and are instead a ward to stop a Malign who may stare into their eyes from possessing them. Many Watchers when out among the paper will wear a variety of masks to hide these strange markings so that it is harder to notice them. However, those who are most dedicated to the cause will strike their sight, many is a story of a Watcher defeated in battle who has had the skin torn from his face to cut the wards away so that they may be possessed by a Malign. Aphotic Artifacts Information Encounters *The Three Barons (Campaign Start)